In many respects, 2020 and the array of unprecedented circumstances that have colored it have blown the doors open for gig-economy businesses. On-demand transportation, personal shoppers, food and grocery delivery and an array of other companies that cater to personal consumer needs through a workforce of contractors and part-timers.In the grips of the pandemic, share prices in stocks like GrubHub, Inc. (NYSE: GRUB), Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) and Uber, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) has shown strength as traders anticipate a future in which workers and consumers become unbound from conventional work and retail spaces.However, for as much as the pandemic has done in normalizing the likes of Door Dash and Postmats, other forces have emerged in the regulatory and economic spheres that also put the future of these enterprises and those like them into question.Given the conflicting forces at play in the currently high-growth gig-economy field, traders should look to whatever tools they can to anticipate whatever shifts the market may bear. A free upcoming webinar from trading research platform VantagePoint will look at similar high-profile industries through the lens of its predictive A.I. software.In anticipation of the virtual demonstration, let’s take a look at some of the forces at play for and against the gig-economy now and in the future.Of Contractors And EmployeesBecause momentum is seemingly on the side of these gig enterprises at the moment, it is beneficial to examine the headwinds mounting against the nascent industry.Currently, there is really just one foreseeable threat facing the industry, but it is a big one that only promises to grow and evolve in coming months. That threat is a recently passed California bill, Bill AB5, which requires these gig-economy companies like Uber and Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) to designate their contract workers as employees.In practice, this means these workers will be entitled to basic protections, most significantly they will be guaranteed minimum wage protection and unemployment insurance. And while California is not the first state to make this distinction — New York, Oregon and Alaska have each indicated the levels of control these companies exert over their workers cross the line into some form of employment — it is the first to enforce that distinction.Click here to reserve your complimntary spot and learn how A.I.-enabled tools could improve your accuracyAnd there is every indication that more states, including those mentioned above, will follow California’s lead. Couple this with a prevalent trend toward rising minimum wage levels in an array of states across the country and the low-cost workforce many gig companies rely on to keep overhead costs low may be in jeopardy.This may in fact be why Lyft, among all of the companies listed previously, has seen the most downward pressure in its stock price. The ride-share company is the only stock in the red for 2020, and it is the one with the most direct exposure to its fleet of drivers-come-employees.Labor (Dis)UnionsBut Lyft’s troubles are not the gig economy’s, and many of the other tech-driven companies leveraging their decentralized workforces have attempted to anticipate or circumvent the problem of treating their laborforce like employees.Uber, for instance, has managed to keep its equity in the black through 2020, albeit by a slim margin. While the company shares a great deal of overlap with Lyft, it has also attempted to diversify outside of purely ride-sharing in its acquisition of Postmates. And while that enterprise also shares the risk of tighter revenue margins due to Bill AB5 and its potential followers, Uber has also invested heavily in autonomous vehicle and logistics technology, something that may end up removing the worker/employee distinction entirely.And that is likely why other technology-based workforce solutions have seen their stocks rise through 2020 despite the ill omen represented by AB5. Share price in online marketplace Etsy is at an all-time high thanks to a rash of new users enriching the platform as a whole.Discover how VantagePoint’s predictive analysis could help you avoid potential lossesThat marketplace structure has also helped stocks like Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ: UPWK) and Fiverr International Ltd (NYSE: FVRR), except instead of marketing handmade goods, their inventory is the growing array of independent workers now cut off from the typical 9 to 5, either by choice or by the unfortunate circumstances of 2020. In any case, these workers and the websites they are now compelled to market themselves on have arrived at a moment when the demand for quick and cheap labor is in vogue.Putting The Future To WorkOf course, the natural extension of AB5 to other states, or even nationally, could throw the future of contract work at large into question, which itself would hamper the seeming success of the likes of Upwork and Fiverr.Add to that the question of how strong a consumer economy built on the back of cheap and dirty white-collar labor can be in the long-term and the gig economy model becomes even more hazy and uncertain than it currently is.Hence the need among traders to anticipate the unexpected and draw educated inferences from wherever possible. While drivers, deliverypeople and office drones might be a dime-a-dozen, clever implementation of technology is worth its weight in stock brokers.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Jaguar Health CEO And Lead Ethnobotanical Researcher Explain The Decades Of Research That Made It A Leader In Plant-Based Drug Treatment * Fintech Small Business Lender Credibly Touts Ratings Agency Affirmation of Public Market Securitization: A COVID-Era Success Story(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

The drivers had last week sued Uber over in-app messages regarding an upcoming gig worker ballot measure that the drivers say violates a California law protecting their political rights. The lawsuit had said that Uber was unlawfully pressuring drivers via the app to support the Nov. 3 company-sponsored ballot measure, known as Proposition 22. Uber had rejected those claims.

Less than a week before voters decide whether Donald Trump receives a second term as president, his administration stands ready to establish a new federal rule on who counts as an employee in the U.S.

Shares of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) saw some unusual options activity on Wednesday. Following the unusual option alert, the stock price moved down to $21.82. * Sentiment: BULLISH * Option Type: SWEEP * Trade Type: CALL * Expiration Date: 2020-11-06 * Strike Price: $22.50 * Volume: 8125 * Open Interest: 1561Three Ways Options Activity Is ‘Unusual’Exceptionally large volume (compared to historical averages) is one reason for which options market activity can be considered unusual. The volume of options activity refers to the number of contracts traded over a given time period. The number of unsettled contracts that have been traded, but not yet closed, is called open interest. These contracts are not yet closed because a buyer has not purchased the contract, or a seller has not sold it.Another sign of unusual activity is the trading of a contract with an expiration date in the distant future. Usually, additional time until a contract expires allows more opportunity for it to reach its strike price and grow its time value. Time value is important to consider because it represents the difference between the strike price and the value of the underlying asset.Contracts that are “out of the money” are also indicative of unusual options activity. “Out of the money” contracts occur when the underlying price is under the strike price on a call option, or above the strike price on a put option. These trades are made with the expectation that the value of the underlying asset is going to change dramatically in the future, and buyers and sellers will benefit from a greater profit margin.Understanding Sentiment Options are “bullish” when a call is purchased at/near ask price or a put is sold at/near bid price. Options are “bearish” when a call is sold at/near bid price or a put is bought at/near ask price.Although the activity is suggestive of these strategies, these observations are made without knowing the investor’s true intentions when purchasing these options contracts. An observer cannot be sure if the bettor is playing the contract outright or if they’re hedging a large underlying position in a common stock. For the latter case, the exposure a large investor has on their short position in common stock may be more meaningful than bullish options activity.Using These Strategies To Trade Options Unusual options activity is an advantageous strategy that may greatly reward an investor if they are highly skilled, but for the less experienced trader, it should remain as another tool to make an educated investment decision while taking other observations into account.For more information to understand options alerts, visit https://pro.benzinga.help/en/articles/1769505-how-do-i-understand-options-alertsSee more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * ROCE Insights For Lyft(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Uber (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) are trading lower after California polls showed a tight race for Proposition 22, which would allow the companies to classify drivers as independent contractors rather than full employees.The ongoing battle between California and ride-hailing companies regarding whether or not drivers should be classified as employees instead of contractors raises concerns for investors regarding other states potentially following suit and how much would it cost the companies.Uber and Lyft are both ride-sharing service providers that connect drivers to riders through their respective apps. Uber was trading 3.62% lower at $34.21 at the time of publication. The stock has a 52-week high of $41.86 and a 52-week low of $13.71.Lyft was trading 6.30% lower at $23.27. The stock has a 52-week high of $54.50 and a 52-week low of $14.56.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Pete Najarian Sees Unusual Options Activity In Cisco and Iqiyi * 11 Stocks Moving In Monday’s After-Hours Session(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.